Friday, June 22, 2012

TransLink Density Myth Busted

One of the excuses that we’ve heard for years is that transit service is poor in the South of Fraser because we don’t have a high enough density. This is something that I’ve never believed based on density data of our region and low-density cities like Calgary that have high transit usage.

I have to give credit to Paul Hillsdon at Civic Surrey that found this data. TransLink published bus route information to their website on routes outside of Vancouver/Burnaby/Tri-Cities. I decided to plot this information on graphs to see if having frequent transit service or having high density (walkability) played a more important role in attracting riders to transit. The graphs clearly show that density plays a minor role in our region in attracting people to transit. This is because as a region we have an overall higher density compared to other regions in North America. The single most important thing in attracting people to transit (and providing a transit system that can recover more of its cost from the fare box) is to switch routes to frequent service. Frequent service is 15min or better service for most of the day, seven days a week. So while the TransLink Commissioner suggests cutting the FTN network, the data shows that the FTN network should be improved especially in the South of Fraser.

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About Me

I am a Langley City Councillor, and advocate for creating sustainable and accessible communities.
Sustainability to me means building a community that will meet the needs of all who choose to live, work, or establish a business in their community today and into the future. It means building a community where small businesses can succeed, which provides services for all members of the community, and that protects the environment. It also means working hard to ensure that the services which a city provides remain affordable.